HRCP Blog

The kids started back to school today. Early this morning while I watered the garden, I noted a crispness in the breeze. My pumpkins are turning orange. But the most indisputable sign that fall is on its way is that our group orders have started coming in. A number of groups use the HRCP Program for their PHR and SPHR review courses. While our program is designed for self-study, we also provide Instructor Materials for those who teach from the HRCP Program, including PowerPoint presentations and discussion questions. Our relationship with some of the groups that use our materials dates back a decade, and we also have several new groups who will be using the HRCP Program for the first time this fall. We are extremely proud of several of our groups who had 100% pass rates on the May-June exams.

Some people prefer to study on their own, at their own pace, but a review course might be helpful to those who would benefit from an externally-imposed study schedule and an experienced instructor. Plus, there’s the commiseration factor. It’s comforting to know that your classmates are going through the same thing you are. My daughter’s fifth grade class endured an hour-long lecture today on personal hygiene and the use of deodorant. At least the PHR and SPHR review courses won’t be going there. We hope.

In just twenty weeks from now, we will be in the beginning days of the December/January PHR and SPHR testing window. If you are the type who has all your Christmas shopping done before Halloween and you already know what you’ll be doing for Spring Break 2009, it’s time for you to begin studying. Procrastinators, you’ve still got plenty of time. Why rush?

I have written before about how long it takes to prepare for the HR certification exams. Many factors combine to determine how much time you, personally, need to devote to preparation, including your work experience, your educational background, and how efficiently you study. Really, the important thing is to make a schedule and stick to it.

If you don’t have study materials, now would be a good time to order them. If you are thinking of taking a class, find out what your options are. Do you have colleagues who are also planning to take the PHR or SPHR exam? Organize a study group. I know the next testing window seems a long way off, but it will be here before we know it.

Yikes! There are just 161 shopping days left until Christmas.

For some human resource professionals, taking the PHR or SPHR exam is not a question of if but of when. For others, the decision is not so easy. If you are one of those teetering on decision’s edge, you might ask yourself the following questions:

• Am I qualified? If you lack the necessary work experience, your decision is made for you. See HRCI’s eligibility requirements.
  
• Where am I in my career? Certification is significantly more important for those starting out their careers than for those who are closing in on retirement. Obtaining your PHR or SPHR certification demonstrates that you have the knowledge and skills that are vital to human resource management. If you’ve already worked in HR for 40 years, that should be well established. If you have less experience, certification can show that you know your stuff, despite the thinner resume. Many seasoned HR professionals still pursue certification for personal satisfaction, to further build credibility, or to provide an example to younger HR professionals.
• Am I considering a search for a new job? Certification is increasingly recognized as an essential standard for human resource managers. Many companies already limit employment in human resource management positions to those who are certified professionals. If you have similar qualifications as the other candidate, but one of you is certified and the other is not, who likely gets the nod?
• Am I willing and able to adequately prepare? The PHR and SPHR exams are tough. While some few people can breeze through the process without cracking a book, most of us require study. A lot of study. If your work and life circumstances prevent you from being able to commit to the cumbrous preparation required for the HR certification exams, perhaps now is not the time to pursue it. Here’s what I’ve said about the amount of time required to prepare.

Have you ever watched the closing ceremonies of the Olympics? Basically, it’s just a party where all the athletes celebrate their participation in The Games. It’s not about winners or losers, world records, or medal counts. The focus in on having taken part, having done your best. Everyone is celebrating, the quadruple gold medalist as well as the guy who tripped on the first hurdle and fell flat on his face. At the closing ceremonies, everyone is a winner.

The PHR and SPHR May-June testing window closed on Saturday. If statistics hold, somewhere around 50 or 60 percent of those who sat for the exam passed (which means, sadly, that 40 to 50 percent didn’t). Now is the time to celebrate your accomplishments. If you passed, you can celebrate that nifty acronym you get to add to your business cards. If you didn’t, celebrate the fact that you were brave enough to line up for the race in the first place. Putting your knowledge and credibility on the line isn’t for the faint of heart. Having tried is significant. (Sitting still in one place for four hours is a huge accomplishment in my book.) Today, don’t worry about what might have gone wrong or whether you’ll re-take the exam in six months or a year. There will be time to review, assess, and analyze. For now, be satisfied that you tried at all. Many don’t make it that far.

Turns out that the hot weather in Las Vegas has an upside (it was 113 as we drove out of town). It makes 96 degrees here at home seen quite comfortable. Next year SHRM’s annual conference is in Chicago. We already have our booth reservation for the Windy City, number 3841. That seems like a good number.

If there is one overriding message I brought home from the SHRM conference in Las Vegas, it is that a lot of people preparing for the PHR and SPHR exams feel alone out there. I lost count of the number of people I gave pep talks, including Lakecia (my new best friend) and Cari (given name Caridad, Spanish for charity—lovely, huh?), who are both taking the exam this Saturday. Good luck, gals! I can’t wait for the good news. I also talked to many who have failed the exam, some more than once, and don’t know where to turn for help. Most of these courageous souls plan to give it another try. When I see their anxiety, their pain, their struggle, I want to reach out. It is for them that I write this blog. For all of you PHR and SPHR hopefuls who need a cheerleader, a coach, a friend. I’m here for you.

When we departed for Las Vegas five days ago, I didn’t know if this blog was worth the effort. But now I realize that this might well be the most meaningful part of my work. This blog isn’t text, diagrams, and tables. It’s just me, saying, “You can do this.”

It has cooled off to a comfortable 105 degrees here in Las Vegas, so we are breathing easy now.

I’m happy to report that the future of HR appears to be in good hands. One of the fun events at the SHRM annual conference is the HR Games, a Jeopardy-style HR knowledge competition. The students that participate in the HR Games are brilliant, and their commitment to learning the HR body of knowledge is impressive. I’m convinced that any HR professional who puts as much effort into their HR certification preparation as these college students do to prepare for the HR Games would have no trouble passing the PHR or SPHR exam.

I talked to a great lady today (hi, Sue!) who has taken the SPHR exam twice, but didn’t pass either time. She is planning to give it another try. I told her what I have said here on my blog before: if what you did to prepare last time didn’t have the desired result, do something else! I know that seems overly simplistic, but it is surprising how many people do again what didn’t work last time, only they work harder at it this time.

My advice? Shake it up. Try something new. Like visiting the HR Games, for example.

Las Vegas is sizzling. The digital display in the car said the outside temperature was 112 degrees when we drove into Las Vegas yesterday. Add to that the 20-mile-per-hour winds, and it feels like I’m standing in front of a blow dryer. A very large blow dryer. Fortunately, it is comfortably cool inside the Las Vegas Convention Center, where we are manning our booth at SHRM’s annual conference and exposition. While we were setting up our booth yesterday, a pigeon came waddling up the aisle. Apparently, he and several buddies live in the rafters of the convention center. Smart pigeons, I say. It’s 112 degrees outside.

I met so many lovely, delightful HR people today. A disproportionately large number of them were from Virgina. They just came to Vegas to get away from the heat, I guess. One of these Virginians completely made my day. Her name is Lakecia, and she’s my new best friend; she told me that she reads my blog! And she wasn’t just saying that to be nice, either. She actually reads it. She specifically mentioned some of my blog entries and begged me to write more often. It made me inordinately happy. It’s just so good to know that someone out there is reading and benefiting from my blog. And Lakecia, I have something for you, so if your read this while you’re still in Vegas, please come back to booth 1898 and find me.

Anyone else in Las Vegas reading this? Come to booth 1898. I’ve got something for you, too.

Las Vegas, here we come! We’ll soon be making our way to SHRM’s annual conference and exposition. If you will be there too, come see us! We’ll be in booth number 1898 at the expo and hope that many of you will stop by to visit us in our 10 x 10 corner of the world. We love meeting those who have used the HRCP Program and those who are considering it. Human resource people are about the best people in the world, and it’s great fun to have so many of them under one roof.

Hope to see you there!

I’ve been on vacation with my family. It was nice to get away from the office (and from the laundry room). We ensconced ourselves in a remote mountain resort, far enough from civilization, we thought, to insulate ourselves from our usual daily concerns.

But my work pursued me.

While relaxing in the resort’s lodge, I met another woman who was there with her family, also trying to escape her daily concerns. We began chatting:

Me: What do you do?
Her: I work at a hospital.
Me: What’s your job?
Her: I’m a human resource specialist.
Me: Oh, really? Are you certified?
Her: Not yet, but I’d like to take the PHR exam.
Me: Well, allow me to give you a little advice . . .

I can’t seem to help myself.

When I took the SPHR exam in 2000, it was still offered only in the paper and pencil format, and there was a painfully long wait for exam results to arrive by mail. The exam was offered on the first Saturday of May. I still hadn’t received my test results by late June as we were preparing to depart for the SHRM Conference in Las Vegas (where it returns this year); HRCP was scheduled to have a booth in the expo. I was hoping that my results would arrive before the conference so that I could tell visitors to our booth that I had just passed the SPHR exam (again) after studying the HRCP materials (again). Just days before our departure, I noticed that the HRCI website listed the names of those who had passed the PHR and SPHR exams in May. Oh good, I thought, even if I don’t have my official results, I will still be able to tell people that I passed.

One problem: my name wasn’t on the list.

How could I not have passed? How could I even go to the SHRM conference now? How could I not have passed? How could I face the people who came to our booth? How could I not have passed? I was dumbfounded.

Then, the day before we left for Las Vegas, my official SPHR score report arrived in the mail. I didn’t even want to open it. But I did. Congratulations! You passed the SPHR exam! What? How? I ran back to the computer and looked up the list on the HRCI website. I then noticed something I had missed previously. It was a list of those newly-certified. I had taken the exam for re-certification.

I don’t look at those lists anymore.